With the heavily disrupted nature of rugby in Wales at the moment it was deemed important that the Quins players should try to maintain match fitness by playing this local friendly match on Carmarthen Park. It is a credit to the fighting spirit of Laugharne, playing normally in the lower divisions, that the play was worthwhile and at times very entertaining.

It was the visitors who began the stronger and made all the early moves but after 6 or 7 minutes the Quins rallied and a touch finding penalty saw Paul Arnold take the ball cleanly and the forwards were able to push prop, Dickie Davies, over for the try.

A few minutes later there was a similar situation but this time the forwards were held and the ball had to be released for Craig Griffiths to touch down. Craig Jones surprisingly missed again for the conversion.

The home side were now well on top and Craig Jones was maintaining territorial advantage with long kicks out of hand. From one such foray Ricky Richards was able to make a 25m. break and then to find forward, Spencer Bessant, on his shoulder ready to take the ball over the line for a try this time converted by Craig Jones. The score remained 17-0 at half time as changes started being made before the interval. It seems to be the nature of these matches that wholesale changes to the teams are made and this often disturbs the flow of the game. In this friendly, it is true to say that, at times moves became a little sloppy and far too many penalties were conceded leading to stop-start periods of play.

Despite this, after the interval, a much changed Quins side created a series of moves with the ball going along the line until Josh Freeman made a decisive break clearing a space for Richard Davies to get the score.

Although it was Carmarthen who had scored all the points at this stage Laugharne were playing their part and their backs were often to be seen running strongly and swiftly only for the play to break down at crucial moments. It was therefore pleasing to see, after a series of touch finding penalties, their scrum half create enough room for prop, Martin Jones, to score a deserved but unconverted try.

Towards the end of the third quarter Craig Hawkins was increasingly to be seen distributing the ball rapidly and creating chances only for the opportunities to break down. As the last quarter began, however, quick ball along the line saw stalwart, Andrew Thomas, with the ball, breaking tackles and getting across the line for a well-deserved try. Mark Jones converted this one.

The game was now beginning to peter out, despite brave Laugharne not giving in, when just before the final whistle, after a series of rolling mauls Mark Jones received the ball, made a classic dummy, scythed through the defence and off loaded to Josh Freeman for the try. This was probably the try of the match and was fittingly converted by Mark Jones. The final whistle blew with the score 36-5 to Carmarthen Quins.

Next Match – Merthyr (Home)
October 13th.

Reporter – Keith Bond